Mushroom: First major fast food hamburger restaurant chain to offer a "belloburger" (which is a...

...hamburger that uses portobello mushroom caps instead of bread buns) and "bello fries" (seasoned and baked/fried strips of portobello mushroom caps) at all of their restaurants. [These two additions to any fast food restaurant menu will then provide customers with a delicious alternative to the high-carb regular hamburgers and French fries.] As a bun substitute, the caps are roasted with cooking oil and seasoned (which can be simply salt and pepper) and then used in place of a bread bun. As a French fries substitute, the strips of portobello caps are either baked or fried and then seasoned (can be just salt) before being put into a normal French fries serving cups.

To win this challenge, the fast food restaurant chain must have at least 1,000 restaurant units and offer both the belloburger and bello fries year round for at least three consecutive years. The chain must ask each customer who orders a hamburger if they want it on a bread or bello bun. Also, when they order fries, the customer must be asked if they want French or bello fries.

[If you want to lose weight, don't follow the US Department of Agriculture's food pyramid (or food plate) as their recommendations are bad for losing weight. Instead, one of the simplest things you can do to lose weight is eliminate starch from your diet. Starch as in potatoes, bread, cereal, grains, and rice. Your body converts starch into carbohydrates and if these carbs are not immediately used up, your body converts those carbohydrates into fat. In place of starch, simply substitute more vegetables and/or meats. So if you normally have a meat, a vegetable, and a starch (e.g., potatoes) for dinner, simply serve two servings of meat and one vegetable (which guys will love) or two servings of vegetable (ideally two different vegetables) and a meat (which gals will say they love).

And until a fast food restaurant does this challenge, when you eat at a fast food hamburger restaurant, don't get French fries with your meal but get more meat on your hamburger (get a double or triple burger). Don't get two hamburgers as then you're eating two starch hamburger bread buns. As for dessert, don't get one. If you think you'll still be hungry, get more meat on your hamburger (a triple or even a quad burger).

If you're eating at a fine restaurant, ask that another or more vegetables be substituted for the baked potato or rice. As for starchy desserts (e.g., cake), go ahead and have it IF it is a treat and not a regular part of your meal. Once a week or month event but not for every meal. If you have a starchy dessert at every meal, it needlessly adds starch to your diet. As a once-in-a-while treat, enjoy. As a last course of your regular meals, don't. If you think you'll be hungry at the end of the meal, eat more meat and/or vegetables.

As for fruits, don't eat them during your meal but when your stomach is empty so they pass straight into your intestines and don't get stopped in your stomach where they'll rot and ferment, which will give you heartburn and a bloated feeling. And for a quick energy breakfast, simply eat fruit (oranges, strawberries, blueberries, etc.) without drowning them in milk or drinking milk with them. Fruit is high in carbohydrates and if you eat it on an empty stomach (which you'll have after a night's sleep) and don't drink milk with them (as it will block them from going into your intestines) but simply drink fruit juice instead, you'll get an immediate pick-me-up burst of energy to carry you until lunch.

One last diet tip: If you think you like chicken skin, you're wrong. You like the spices and herbs you put on the skin. Chicken skin is high in fat and is pretty nasty when not seasoned. Instead, remove the skin (or buy skinless chicken), cut into the meat length-wise once or twice, and directly season the meat, making sure you get the seasoning deep into the cuts you just made. You'll then enjoy your chicken more and eat fat less.]

Future Challenges:

1) First fast food restaurant chain (10 or more restaurant units) to no longer serve bread-bun hamburgers and French fries but instead serve belloburgers and bello fries.

2) First major fast food restaurant chain (1,000 or more restaurant units) to no longer serve bread-bun hamburgers and French fries but instead serve belloburgers and bello fries.

3) First US private boarding school to only use portobello mushroom caps for all of their hamburger buns and bello fries instead of French fries.

4) First public school in the US (elementary, middle or high school) to only use portobello mushroom caps for all of their hamburger buns and bello fries instead of French fries.

5) First US school system (elementary, middle and high schools) to only use portobello mushroom caps for all of their hamburger buns and bello fries instead of French fries.

6) First US state to mandate that all public schools within its state to serve belloburgers and bello fries instead of bread-bun hamburgers and French fries.

7) First cruiseline to offer the passengers on all their cruiseships belloburgers and bello fries as a menu choice whenever they offer regular bread-bun hamburgers and/or French fries.

8) First naval aircraft carrier to offer belloburgers and bello fries to their crew members instead of bread-bun hamburgers and French fries.

9) First military of a nation (all branches) to only serve belloburgers and bello fries to their soldiers instead of bread-bun hamburgers and French fries. Any nation in the world can qualify for this future challenge.

10) First US prison to serve belloburgers and bello fries instead of bread-bun hamburgers and French fries.

11) First US state to mandate all of the state and local prisons within their state serve belloburgers and bello fries instead of bread-bun hamburgers and French fries.

12) First US House Representative or US Senator to successfully introduce and get passed a law that is signed by the US President (or their veto over-ridden) that mandates all federal prisons serve belloburgers and bello fries instead of bread-bun hamburgers and French fries.

13) First mushroom growers association (e.g., The American Mushroom Institute) to fund a national promotion campaign promoting belloburgers and bello fries.

14) First US mushroom growers association to offer an annual $1 million prize for the best belloburger recipe and another annual $1 million prize for the best bello fries recipe. These prizes being the end result of an annual series of cooking competitions held at all fifty US state fairs. The winners of each state fair competition is flown in free by the association and put up in hotels for free to be able to compete in the national competition at which they are the only contestants. Fast food restaurant chains can enter their belloburgers and bello fries in any state fair where they have at least one restaurant unit in that state and can enter more than one state fair competition. As all the state fair competition judging will be blind (the judges don't know who made what), this should assure fast food restaurants that they have a fair chance at winning the competition. [This will also hopefully result in fast food restaurants improving every year the belloburgers and bello fries they make. Not to mention how much they'll promote their belloburgers and/or bello fries if they win a state-level competition, if not the national competition.]

15) First prime-time US broadcast network TV drama series to have one of its characters eat and enjoy a belloburger and bello fries made by a fast food restaurant chain.

16) First major motion picture (premiering in at least 4,000 movie theaters) that has one of its characters eat and enjoy a belloburger and bello fries from a fast food restaurant chain.

Discussion:
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